Siege of Calais (1558)

The Siege of Calais occurred from 1 to 8 January 1558 when the French army of Francis, Duke of Guise captured the English-held French port city of Calais during the Italian War of 1551-59. The French capture of Calais ended 200 years of English rule over the port and expelled the English from continental Europe.

Background
In 1557, Pope Paul IV manipulated the insane King Henry II of France into breaching the Treaty of Vaucelles and resuming his war with the Kingdom of Naples and the Spanish Empire. The Spanish responded by invading Picardy, defeating the French at St. Quentin; Henry II lost his best captains in the battle. The road to Paris was now open to invasion, and Francis, Duke of Guise, who had raised an army and prepared to lead it either in Italy or in support of his sister Mary of Guise in Scotland, was recalled to France and promoted to Lieutenant-General. King Henry had 30,000 French troops assembled at Compiegne, Montreuil-sur-Mer, and Boulogne-sur-Mer, and he ordered them to capture the impregnable English fortress of Calais. He fired all of his generals in preparation for his own leadership of the army, but his son, Dauphin Francis, volunteered to lead the army in his stead and launch a two-pronged assault on Calais.

Siege
On 1 January 1558, the French besieged Sangatte and Frethun Nielles, and Fort Risban fell the next day. During the siege, Dauphin Francis led a force of 12 French footsoldiers to capture Fort Montmorency from the English garrison, determining that it was undermanned; the English had sent the same men time and again to attack the French outposts, assuming that the French would mistakenly believe that they had superior strength. Francis shot a fire arrow at the gunpowder store on the wall, destroying the English cannon and allowing for him and his men to storm the castle and capture the fort. On 7 January, the English commander Thomas Wentworth, 2nd Baron Wentworth was forced to surrender after a lightning attack, handing over the keys to the city to the French. The French captured three months' worth of food and 300 guns, and the English defenses of Guines and Hames soon fell. Henry II arrived at Calais on 23 January 1558 and celebrated the city's capture, ending 200 years of English rule.

Aftermath
Baron Wentworth and the English inhabitants of the Pale of Calais were allowed to evacuate to England, and France reclaimed the pale as its own territory. Shortly after, Guise recapture Thionville and Arlon and prepared to invade Luxembourg, but peace was made with Spain in 1559. Just months after his victory at Calais, the insane King Henry prepared to invade England to follow up his victory by slaying Queen Elizabeth I of England and pressing his daughter-in-law Mary, Queen of Scots' claim to the throne, but he died in a jousting accident before he could do so.